Autonomy to spin off consumer arm — Autonomy, the Cambridge-based search software company, on Wednesday announced plans to demerge and float its consumer division, with allows people to search internet TV and video clips. — The consumer division will be renamed Blinkx, and listed on London's AIM exchange for growth stocks in May.

Google surpasses Microsoft as world's most-visited site — It's official: Google rules the world. — The Mountain View search engine has outstripped Microsoft on two fronts, becoming both the most visited Web site and the most valuable global brand. — The events are major milestones for Google …

Google sponsored links not safe? — We've been watching an interesting puzzle for a couple of weeks now, and last night the last couple of pieces fell into place. Since the 10th April, our community intelligence network has been finding exploit detections _seemingly_ at household name sites like the Better Business Bureau and

China Telecom gives Google Web advertising rights — SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China Telecom Corp. has given Google Inc. the right to offer advertising on over 400 Web sites owned by the Chinese firm, the companies said on Wednesday. — The deal covers national and local portals operated by China Telecom …

Ask.com to Launch Contextual Ad Network — IAC/InterActiveCorp is launching a contextual ad network to complement its existing search ad distribution network. It hopes the offering will become a viable alternative for publishers to Google's AdSense network.

Google gets in on 'Intel Inside' campaign — Intel is injecting some of Google's famous ad magic into its "Intel Inside" campaign. — The world's largest microprocessor supplier and the most popular search engine were set to announce on Wednesday a co-marketing initiative that will allow makers …

'Second Life' to strengthen its voice — SAN FRANCISCO—In the next several months, Second Life avatars may find their long-awaited voice, said Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab, publisher of the virtual world. — Many Second Life members have long desired to bring voice to their text-based avatars.

No Charges for Apple Over Options — Federal securities regulators said yesterday that they would bring no civil charges against Apple over the backdating of executive stock options. But they stopped short of removing the cloud that for nearly a year has hung over the company's chief executive, Steven P. Jobs.

Why is Scribd so hot? — Last couple of days from many different sources we have been hearing about this little company called Scribd. A funding frenzy is taking place around the company, with some of the top name venture capitalists jostling to invest in the company.

Yet another Microsoft search exec calls it quits — The shake-ups in Microsoft's search organization aren't over yet. — On April 24, Microsoft announced internally that Dane Glasgow, general manager for Live Search, is leaving the company to work for various nonprofits and spend more time with his family.

Google Maps Introduce User-Generated Content — When Google launched its personalized mapping tool, My Maps, the company said it would soon be integrating user-generated content. It appears that is now happening on many Google Maps searches (hat tip to NLC Marketing Blog). — Here are some example searches: